Across three panels, Corporations and Colonialism; Accountability and Repair: Defining Justice for the Crime of Ecocide; and Human Rights and Environmental Stewardship, speakers explored ecocide through a human rights lens, offering a wide range of perspectives on how severe environmental harm intersects with human rights and how international law can be used to advance environmental justice. The programme concluded with an evening session focused on diplomacy and activism.

Enjoy dipping into the conference report, the recordings of the event, and the image gallery!

From pro bono projects to the UCLA Law in The Hague externship programme, the Manual on the National Criminalization of Ecocide, and our international conference on Ecocide, Human Rights and Environmental Justice, these are just a few highlights of the past year. 

The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA is pleased to present the 2025 Annual Report reflecting our work in both Los Angeles and Europe. We remain committed to uniting people around our shared mission to advance human rights and empower the next generations of lawyers, leaders, and advocates.  

The semester has officially come to an end for our UCLA Law in The Hague students. 

It has been a full and inspiring period: internships at the International Court of Justice, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the International Development Law Organization, and the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, a study visit to Geneva to watch the UN in action and meet with human rights practitioners, and participation in a major conference in London on ecocide, human rights and environmental justice. 

At the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court (ASP24), experts from Ukraine and international legal organisations outlined how environmental harm is being investigated and framed in active conflict, offering insights that are shaping approaches in other jurisdictions. The session included a preview of a new manual on prosecuting international environmental crimes.

The OTP Policy on Addressing Environmental Damage through the Rome Statute has been launched this Thursday at the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. 

This document is the outcome of an extensive global consultation on how international criminal law can better respond to severe environmental harm (an area where accountability is widely recognised as urgent).

H𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦?

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘜𝘬𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦?

The groundbreaking  Environmental War Crimes Guide for Ukrainian prosecutors [climatecounsel.org/warcrimes] is being transformed into a global 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 for application both in conflict and beyond.

The criminalisation of ecocide is coming, both domestically and internationally. The real question for us, especially in the business and human rights community, is: what difference will it make? How will the emergence of ecocide as a crime strengthen and complement businesses’ obligations to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence?

Watch Kate Mackintosh reflect on this question at the UN Business and Human Rights Forum, Geneva, 24 November 2025

Inspiring words from London based climate educator and founder of The Peoples Ark, Samia Dumbuya, at our International Conference on Ecocide, Human Rights and Environmental Justice.

Samia is working to achieve people powered climate action and inclusive decision making so communities can shape just climate futures. 

Dr Farah Faizal, former Maldivian diplomat, opened the panel Human Rights and Environmental Stewardship at our recent conference on Ecocide, Human Rights and Environmental Justice, with a call to action, a reminder that talk alone is not enough and that practical work must follow.

Baroness Rosie Boycott opened the conference with a thoughtful keynote address. 

She reflected on themes that would reappear throughout the day, beginning with the contrast between her own childhood memories of time spent in nature and what her grandchildren now experience. Noting how dramatically these everyday landscapes have changed, she highlighted the importance of recognising that people’s sense of “normal” shifts as the environment deteriorates.

Kate Mackintosh, our ED and vice chair of the independent expert panel for the legal definition of ecocide answers the questions:

Why is the environmental cost of war not on the agenda at COP 30 and could an international crime of ecocide change accountability?

People across the Gaza Strip have been returning to towns and cities badly damaged by the war after a fragile ceasefire took effect in October. Eventually, their lives will be restored and their homes will be built back. But the climate consequences of the war will remain for years to come.

The third panel of the day, Human Rights and Environmental Stewardship, chaired by Dr. Farah Faizal, former High Commissioner of the Maldives, examined how efforts to protect nature intersect with human rights, culture, and inequality.

Lovleen Bhullar spoke about India’s polluted rivers, noting that long before environmental law, local communities had their own systems of stewardship and protection. Dr. Matthew Gillett and Darryl Robinson debated the balance between anthropocentric and ecocentric perspectives, while Daniel Adjin Odonkor brought the discussion to life with the example of small-scale gold mining in Ghana.

The second panel, Accountability and Repair: Defining Justice for the Crime of Ecocide, was chaired by Xuchen Zhang, Legal Advisor at UCLA Law's The Promise Institute for Human Rights (Europe).

The discussion explored the legal complexities of ecocide, including how different applications of mens rea could impact specific cases, and how intent and sentencing might be approached in practice.

The international conference has kicked off with a powerful first panel on Corporations and Colonialism, led by Dr Olivia Lwabukuna.

The panelists not only described how ecocide is happening in Myanmar, Mauritius, Jamaica and across Africa, but also highlighted that ecocide is rarely an accident but an ongoing system reflective of colonialism.

Lisa Oldring is a Senior Fellow with UCLA Law’s Promise Institute Europe and a doctoral candidate at the University of Amsterdam Faculty of Law, where her research focuses on the crime of ecocide from a human rights perspective.

Lisa will discuss the article co-authored with Kate Mackintosh, in which they apply the contemporary proposed definition of the international crime of ecocide to the Alberta oil sands operations.

Catherine Savard is a DPhil in Law candidate at the University of Oxford, where her thesis focuses on ecocide in international law. She holds two master’s degrees, respectively from the University of Oxford (MPhil in Law) and from Laval University (LL.M., hons.).

She will speak at the conference this Friday as part of the panel “Accountability and Repair: Defining Justice for the Crime of Ecocide,“ chaired by Xuchen Zhang.

🎡 Join us in London or online!

📆 31 October 2025

👉 Full Programme & Registration links here

😱 The programme is sold out, but you can still join us online!

The paper Exploring Ecocide and Human Rights in Small Island Developing States by Krishnee Adnarain Appadoo and Jeevesh Augnoo examines how ecocide disproportionately affects Small Island Developing States and Latin American countries, highlighting the links between large-scale environmental destruction, human rights violations, and ongoing colonial and corporate practices.

The authors argue that recognising ecocide as an international crime could strengthen protection for vulnerable communities and promote environmental justice globally.

🎡 Join us in London or online!

📆 31 October 2025

👉 Full Programme & Registration links here

😱 The programme is sold out, but you can still join us online!

Our ED Kate Mackintosh had the honor of addressing the Croatian Bar Association (CBA) this week on the topic “Criminalizing the Mass Destruction of Nature: Ecocide in National and International Law.”, along with Climate Leader and Croatian Attorney at Law Marija Pujo Tadić.

The discussion explored the legal implications of large-scale ecosystem destruction, the role of the International Criminal Court in defining ecocide as a crime, and Croatia’s position in the evolving European and global legal framework.